User blog:RRabbit42/How to avoid being blocked
Several years ago, I was asked the following question: :: Hi! I'm new here, can someone please tell me the rules so I'm not blocked again? Thanks :) Back then, I gave an answer that was more technical. It's shown below, but in the three years since this blog was first written, I've learned there are a couple of other points that have turned out to be even more important. Here they are: # Tell the truth. # Keep fan fiction separate. Both are very simple and they go hand in hand. Not doing one or both often leads to being blocked. Why is that? It's because when people start making stuff up, they never say they're making it up. It's added in with the factual information on the page and they don't put in a reason in the Edit Summary line, which brings with it the assumption their edit is true. When it turns out not to be, administrators have to make a decision: was the person just playing around and making it up, or did they deliberately add wrong information to hurt the wiki? The first couple of times, it might be just playing around. The more it happens, however, the more it starts looking like deliberately-wrong information. In most cases, there isn't anything wrong with creating fan fiction. I wrote a series of blogs about why we need it. What comes back to bite people who write fan fiction is how they handle it. Keeping fan fiction separate is equally important as telling the truth. All too often, they try to put it in with the factual/official information. For example, going to the page about Luke Skywalker on Wookieepedia (the Star Wars Wiki) and saying he met Calvin and Hobbes. The more they do it, the faster their fan fiction becomes false information, and then becomes vandalism, especially if people start telling them to stop adding fan fiction. A common reaction is for that person to then get stubborn and insist, "It's true, I swear. Calvin was playing Spaceman Spiff with Hobbes and they met Luke Skywalker." As it goes on, it becomes less and less credible and more clear it's fan fiction they just won't let go of. On the other hand, if they made a separate page about Luke Skywalker and clearly indicated that it is going to be about their version of him, then there's no question about whether it is false information or fan fiction. If the page is created on a fan fiction wiki, that confirms it as being fan fiction. So, if you want to write fan fiction, go for it, but say up front it's fan fiction and find appropriate places to show it. ---- original information follows and will be updated: :: Each wiki has their own rules beyond the basics Fandom requires. Those are typically in Category:Policy or Category:Policies, and a few others might be in Category:Help, so searching for those on a wiki is a good start. :: Another one to look for is a block policy. This will list the general subjects and actions that will result in someone being blocked. A good policy will also list how long each infraction will be blocked for and what to do for repeat offenders, so administrators can be consistent when dealing with problem users. If a wiki doesn't have a block policy, admins will inconsistent about what needs to be blocked, and I've seen some pretty lengthy blocks like a year for minor infractions from a first-time visitor. :: This wiki doesn't have many policies, mostly because I didn't get around to it, but a big one we do have deals with antagonists and protagonists. It was created because of what's described in the "Antagonist fussing" section that happens on so many wikis. I need to put in some examples of how ridiculous antagonist fussing has become. :: I have been thinking about this sort of thing for a while. A lot of wikis have rules about what you don't do. Very few have recommendations on what you should do. Advice on how to be a good editor and what will help the wiki grow. I need to work on a page that lists that kind of thing. So here's some of the things I recommend: ::* (already covered above:) When you first come to a wiki, check the policies. ::* Find out who the administrators are. They're usually the most experienced members of the wiki and can offer help when you need it. You can see who they are at . ::* If you have a question, ask. It's better to say "I'm not sure how to do this" than to do first and find out it was wrong because sometimes it leads to blocks. ::* Work on improving the articles, rather than just add categories or leave article comments. Those last two are easy to do, but most of the time they don't add any substance to the article. ::* If someone leaves you a message, answer it, especially if it came from an administrator. A lot of times, I will leave messages that have a strong suggestion or recommendation, but it's really a warning they're about to be blocked if they don't change their behavior. ::** The exception to this is if it's obviously vandalism, trolling, profanity or the like. You can remove the message, but you might want to notify an admin for a permanent deletion. ::* Find ways to help in areas that need it. Some wikis will put together projects where a group of people will work specifically on one part of a wiki to improve it, such as just character pages or galleries. ::* The page has a section at the top called "Maintenance reports". Those are areas that can be cleaned up. But be careful with the categories. A lot of people don't realize adding a category to a category means "everything in this category is part of the category I just added". See my Understanding catgories page on Community Central for more information. As I or other people come up with ideas, I'll add them here and eventually we can turn this into a help page or submit it to Fandom to share with the rest of the community. Category:Blog posts